Leopards rally, then run out of gas against Holy Cross

Despite third-quarter rally, Lafayette loses to Holy Cross in first Patriot League game of the season.

Only one of the football teams in Fisher Stadium seemed totally committed to playing the full 60 minutes on Saturday.

Lafayette fought its way out of a big hole and took a five-point lead on its final offensive play of the third quarter of its Patriot League opener against Holy Cross.

But instead of using its comeback as positive motivation for a big fourth quarter, the Leopards fell to pieces in all phases of the game and the Crusaders charged from behind to score a 38-28 victory.

Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani likes to talk about the importance of complementary football, and that's what made the difference for Holy Cross, which broke a three-game losing streak and handed Lafayette its fourth straight defeat.

The Crusaders offense started it off by converting a third down and a fourth down into first downs before finally scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 20-yard pass from third-string quarterback Geoff Wade to Luke Nikolaisen, a receiver who was making his first and only catch of the day.

The defense finished it off when Dewayne Cameron sacked Lafayette quarterback Blake Searfoss and Ryan Smith picked up the ball and ran it eight yards for a touchdown — the second fumble-return TD by a Lafayette opponent in as many games.

And then there was Jake Wieczorek, whose 28-yard kickoff return started the first of the Crusaders' scoring drives and whose 41-yard return of Ryan Forrester's 52-yard punt put the ball on the Leopards' 25-yard line, from where Holy Cross scored on the second play to make it 38-21.

"I don't think I've ever been as proud of the group of guys who went out ln that field and won a game without multiple players … guys just came in and played real hard from the beginning … and found a way to rally and play hard at the end and found a way to win it without our normal lineup," Holy Cross Coach Tom Gilmore said.

And for Tavani, it was what has become a familiar recap — "playing hard …can't fault the effort …but our the execution down the stretch is letting us down," he said.

The Crusaders scored the first 13 points of the game in a first half that "was like we were sleepwalking," Tavani said. In the first quarter Holy Cross piled up 194 yards of offense. Lafayette had 22.

Holy Cross came into this game without its all-star quarterback, Peter Pujals, who suffered a leg injury last week, or its second-string quarterback. It was also missing a tailback and some defensive people, as well as a kicker. The team was vulnerable, to say the least.

But Lafayette couldn't capitalize on that vulnerabililty, and then things really took a turn when the Leopards' starting quarterback, Drew Reed, was put out of the game by a helmet-to-helmet collision that drew no foul. A short time later the heart of the defense, linebacker Brandon Bryant, suffered a knee injury.

Searfoss set career highs for completions (33), yards (280) and touchdowns (4). He also tied his career best for pass attempts (45). Hinchen, playing for Bryant, had a team high 11 tackles, eight of them solos and 2.5 of them for loss.

Wide receiver Matt Mrazek also had a career high 11 catches and a career high 109 yards. He had his second three-touchdown performance of the season as well.

All those statistics went for naught because Wade, who played only one half of football in his college career before Saturday, was 21-for-27 for 238 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 29 yards and played an error-free game.

Brendan Flaherty, who was used as a running back for the first time this season, led Holy Cross with 65 yards rushing, most on "wildcat" plays. He also caught nine passes for 56 yards and a touchdown to give him 121 yards for the day.

Lafayette had touchdown drives of 74, 75, 78 and 73 yards and finished with 373 yards of offense after that ugly first quarter. The Leopards got a clutch TD at the end of the first half and then one early in the second to get back into the game. They went ahead on a three-yard TD pass from Searfoss to Mrazek. It was Mrazek's eighth TD of the year.

The momentum certainly seemed to be in the Lafayette corner, but Holy Cross snatched it away.

"Give them a lot of credit," Tavani said. "They're playing with their third-string quarterback, for goodness sake, but he's got the O-line that can help a lot. He played very well. We have to find a way to get over that fine line between winning and losing because it's right there in front of us … it's extremely frustrating."